The present disclosure relates to a personal information storage device and a method for using the device.
In today""s information age, people are becoming more and more reliant on information. For instance, it is important to many people to have access to contact information, scheduling information, account information, medical information, electronic mail, and the like, even at remote locations. Through use of various computing devices, people normally can carry such personal information with them. For instance, this information often is stored on portable computing devices such as notebook personal computers (PCs). Such computers provide a relatively convenient means for storing and carrying this information, but can be bulky. Although many people accept this inconvenience in exchange for access to personal information when travelling, personal computers simply are not practical for carrying at all times. Despite the existence of other more easily portable computing devices (e.g., handheld devices), these devices normally lack the storage capacity to hold relatively large amounts of data as can be stored with a PC.
Due to the drawbacks associated with personal computing devices, computer access is often provided to the public in hotels, kiosks, and the like so that the user can, for instance, connect with the Internet, or access/manipulate data the user has saved to a floppy disk. Although the provision of this computer access permits people to obtain personal information without the need for their own personal computing devices, other difficulties arise in accessing information. In particular, interfacing with a foreign computing device can be difficult in that the settings of the device normally are not the same as those to which the user has become accustomed. For instance, the user may be accustomed to a particular xe2x80x9cdesktopxe2x80x9d arrangement that he or she uses with his or her own PC. Accordingly, it may be difficult for the user to acclimate to the foreign computing device.
From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have an information storage device with which the user can quickly and easily access large amounts of information, such as personal information, even from a foreign computing device.
The present disclosure relates to an information storage device. The storage device comprises a connector for interfacing the storage device with a host computing device and at least one solid-state memory device contained within the storage device, the memory device holding personal information of a user of the storage device.
In a preferred arrangement, the storage device is small in size yet has a large storage capacity such that the user can carry with him or her a large volume of personal information. With this storage device, the user may quickly and easily access the information stored on the storage device, even with foreign computing devices.